Ysidro Gutierrez speaks during a news conference on Friday to announce the formation of a committee to remove Lubbock City Councilman Victor Hernandez from office.

Ysidro Gutierrez speaks during a press conference on Friday to announce the formation of a committee to remove Lubbock City Councilman Victor Hernandez from office. (Zach Long/A-J Media)

A former Lubbock County commissioner has launched his recall petition effort to oust Councilman Victor Hernandez.

Ysidro Gutierrez hopes for 1,000 signatures to send a message to the north Lubbock councilman. The city charter says only 448 valid signatures are needed on a recall petition.

On Friday, April 19, Gutierrez announced plans to file the paperwork with the city. He has 30 days after filing to collect the minimum number of signatures required by the city

“We have had scandal after scandal after scandal, year after year and Mr. Hernandez has been at the center of it every time,” Gutierrez said during a news conference in front of City Hall. “We have an elected official on City Council that is not providing the moral and ethical leadership to this community that we think is required of an elected official.”

Gutierrez said he started the petition because he’s disappointed by Hernandez’s handling of complaints involving City Manager Lee Ann Dumbauld, specifically the councilman’s decisions in recent weeks not to recuse himself from voting on the issue.

Gutierrez and fellow Lubbock Republican Frank Gutierrez, who are not related, formed the political action committee Monday, April 15, to mount the recall.

Ysidro Gutierrez is listed as the committee’s treasurer and Frank Gutierrez as its chairman.

“I want to see good government,” he said. “We’re struggling for leadership in this area.”

Last week, Hernandez said he’s “not bothered” about the prospect of a recall election, if it should happen.

Hernandez said he believes citizens in his north Lubbock council district are on his side, adding in a statement Friday he urges District 1 residents to be respectful to anyone who solicits signatures for the petition.

“I would also remind the public that you have the right to refuse to sign their petition,” Hernandez said in the statement. “I would ask that your response to anyone soliciting your signature be ‘No thank you, I do not wish to sign your petition’ or ‘No gracias, no quero firmar su peticion’.”

Hernandez noted both he and Ysidro Gutierrez served in the U.S. Army.

“I would like to think that we did so, in part, in order to protect the democratic procedures available to all citizens, which includes the recall process,” he said.

Ysidro Gutierrez said the committee has raised upward of $500 — money he said could be used to hire people from District 1 to gather signatures for the petition.

The number of valid signatures required on the petition is 30 percent of the 1,491 votes cast in the district in the last general election, said City Secretary Becky Garza.

Of the 448, at least one-tenth of those signing the petition must certify they voted for Hernandez during his last election in May 2010.

The petition must be filed through Garza’s office 30 days after the filing of an affidavit, declaring an intention to submit the recall document.

At that point, the council, including Hernandez, would receive notification of the petition.

The officeholder has five days after such notice is given to resign. If there’s no resignation within five days, the governing body is required to order a recall election.